Ive ridden at 20+ facilities in my life, and had 20+ hunter/jumper trainers, including many top A circuit show barns/instructors. I have to say Amanda is my favorite coach of them all. She is extremely knowledgeable and has great instincts as an instructor. She knows which students need to be pushed harder and which need a slower progression. She knows the Loftmar horses and knows how to ride them to the best of their abilities. Amanda also makes every lesson interesting, with one or two major skills being the focus of each lesson (for example, one lesson working on rollbacks, or one lesson working on shortening/lengthening) in the midst of always improving equitation and effective riding. She also has a fun way of teaching. Every once in a while well play a game (Gamblers choice, gong-elimination, hunter derby, etc.) to test our skills as well. The comments she says during the lessons get everybody laughing and remembering that were there to improve our skills, but also to have a good time.

Im an adult rider who was getting back into the saddle after a series of falls that left my confidence shaken. I was thinking my riding days were over until I found Loftmar. Coach Amanda has rebuilt my confidence by encouraging me, challenging me and most of all filling in the holes that previous riding instructors had left behind. Im slowly by surely getting back to my previous riding form.Ive been riding with Loftmar for over a year now and have been very impressed with their entire operation. Their barn is nicely laid out and the stalls are kept impeccably clean. The lesson horses are excellent at their jobs and I have never felt unsafe or over-horsed like I have at other barns. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for lessons or boarding.

I took lessons with Loftmar stables for four months. During that time, I had extremely mixed experiences. First of all, I loved the horses there. They were well-trained and truly a pleasure to ride.That being said, there were a number of managerial issues. I was appropriately placed into an adult lesson, and this lesson had a high school student in it. It was only 4 people, so I didnt really mind. Then, an 8 year old was added to the lesson. She had never cantered before, while we were jumping.My instructor was an excellent rider. She was not an excellent teacher. She had many difficulties adjusting to riders of different levels who were placed together in one lesson. In a private evaluation, I was jumping 2 feet. In my group lesson, we were jumping very small crossrails. I had been jumping courses, and we were only doing simple lines of jumps.One time in particular, we were working on counting our canter strides before a jump. We started counting two strides before, and each time we correctly completed the exercise, we would add two more strides. I successfully completed this four times, and she harshly pointed out that I had not counted six strides before the jump. The other members of the class disagreed with her, and she told them they were also incorrect. Later, the 8 year old girl was correctly counting horses strides, though the instructor did not teach her how to do so. I heard the girl counting, and knew she was getting the stride numbers right. The instructor told the girl there was no way she knew how to count strides, and that she was wrong.All in all, you get what you pay for.

I have been with Loftmar Stables for about 9-10 years. This considered, I have shown MSA for 2 years and short stirrup (NCSSEL) for 4. These years have been amazing with the horses and instructors. Not only have I grown in strength and horsemanship knowledge, I have grown personally due to the push to be better. Amanda, the current instructor, has been the best one I have ever had. She had shown me that I can do better and overcome my fears of jumping. When she started teaching, I was terrified of small fences but now, entirely due to the dedicated teaching of Amanda, I can confidently soar over fences on horses Ive never ridden. Every time I ride a different horse, I get a little nervous. But, I remember what she once told me, I would never put you on a horse you cant ride. Now, put on your big girl pants and ride.Best riding barn around.

Dont do it. Had a terrible experience with a refund. I was blown away by how unethical they were. The actual staffers are nice but the owner is awful.